The love he always wanted
by SmoothFluffle
Summary: Over the last couple of years, Will knew he was different. He didn't like what the other kids liked; he didn't wear what the other kids wore; his family wasn't like the other kids' families; and he didn't like girls like the other boys did.


Over the last couple of years, Will knew he was different. He didn't like what the other kids liked; he didn't wear what the other kids wore; his family wasn't like the other kids' families; and he didn't like girls like the other boys did.

Will figured he was gay after Jennifer Hayes kissed him behind the bleachers after PE in middle school.

It wasn't that Jenny was ugly; far from it, really. She had this long silky hair that framed her cherubic face, and blue eyes that shone with kindness. Even though she was one of the popular girls, she never was anything but nice to Will and his friends. When word got out, a few boys in the hallway patted Will on the back, as if Jenny was something priced to win. But Will didn't feel like a champion. He felt _different._

Different, because even though Jenny was really pretty and nice, and her lips had felt soft and tingly on his, it wasn't what he liked.

What he liked, he discovered, was how Bryan Anderson's hair fell in soft waves over his hazel eyes. The boy had moved in a few months back, and he entered 8th grade with them. He was Will's partner in Art 2D, a subject he didn't share with any of the boys.

Bryan was a quiet kid who had very few friends, and was really nice to Will; he was very creative and liked showing Will his sketches, even asking for advice in certain colors and techniques. What Will liked most about him, was that he never judged him. Even though Will had been developing a thick skin, the taunts were still present. He ignored most of them which resulted in them dying down, but a few persistent ones were always present. Namely, the ones from Troy and James.

Shouts of his 'fairyness' followed him in the hallways, but he put a tough exterior and never let the taunts get to him. _Water off a duck's back_ , he thought. And Bryan never mentioned it.

Until the day he really found out he was gay.

Troy had cornered him outside of the bathrooms; Will had been on his way to Art, when his bladder made him take a detour. Bryan had been with him, and he held his backpack while patiently waiting for him outside. But as Troy slammed him against the wall, Bryan let go of his things and bravely called to him.

" _Let him go!" He yelled._

" _Oh, you've got a boyfriend now." Troy sneered as James took hold of Bryan's arms and pinned them behind his back._

" _I don't know if you haven't heard this, new kid, but fairies aren't welcomed here."_

" _I would rather be a fairy than be a bully. I don't care if your pathetic self needs attention, but this isn't the way to gain it." Bryan had snapped, angry at the boy's evil actions and words._

 _Troy's eyes had hardened and he let go of Will to stand in front of Bryan._

" _You think I'm pathetic?" He asked quietly._

 _Bryan held his stare square on, but on the inside he was scared. This kind of things didn't happen back in his old town._

 _Suddenly, Troy stepped back and threw his fist against Bryan's face._

 _He let out a pained groan as his face turned with the force of the punch._

" _Who's pathetic now, you little fag?"_

Will had been so angry; he didn't remember much of it, but the only thing present on his mind was the hot fury that ran through his veins as he sprang into action. Afterwards, when his breathing turned back to normal and the blackout ended, Troy lay on the floor whimpering as he clutched his broken nose and pressed his hand to his bruised ribs.

The principal was there, and then his mom; but he only remembered how Bryan's eyes stared deep into his own as he helped him rinse out his cut and bruised knuckles. He remembered how his lips had felt against his own, and how his soft hands had taken Will's face.

He and Bryan kissed a few times after that, always hidden from the eyes of the others. They met in secret, and he began to feel what everyone else described as love. But then Bryan moved to Chicago, and they never saw each other again.

His relationship left him with the knowledge of his sexual preference.

When he came out to his mom, she told him she already knew.

" _You think I didn't know my own little boy? I knew the minute you told me Ryan Greene's hair was the prettiest shade of gold you'd ever seen back in kinder-garden."_ Joyce had smiled through her tears. _"You don't have to hide from me, Will."_

And he never did hide again.

After his run in with Troy, the boy never messed with him again. At least in Middle School.

Then High School began, and his friends began to date each other. And he felt alone.

Not because he _really_ was alone, but because he didn't have anyone to share what his friends had.

He watched how Mike stared at El; how he looked like the stars were pale in front of her; he watched as they kissed and how they spoke in hushed tones, giggling at inside jokes and sharing looks only for each other.

He watched as Lucas and Max joked and laughed, comfortable with one another. They weren't big on PDA, but they showed their love in different ways. More than once, he caught Lucas watching the redhead like Mike watched El.

And he wanted _that_.

He wanted someone to look at him _like that_ ; he wanted someone who _loved_ him _like that_.

And he found him.

Christopher Perez was a transfer student in their sophomore year. He was loud and funny, and was artistically gifted; he had a great sense of fashion for a little town like Hawkins, and he was so aesthetically beautiful. He was also _very openly_ gay.

He was so comfortable in his own skin, he made Will jealous. Also, he made Will turn into a bumbling mess.

Dustin gave him absolute shit every time this happened in front of him. But Will couldn't help himself! The Latin boy had the greyest pair of eyes he had ever seen, and his milky skin was dotted with the palest freckles ever. His hair was a rich black with dashes of copper, and every time he spoke to Will his fingers twitched with the need to draw Chris.

It also didn't help he was awfully flirty.

"Your mouth has the most beautiful pout I've ever seen. I wonder how it'd feel against mine." He murmured while the Algebra teacher wrote equations on the board.

"Stop." Will would mutter back, blushing and chuckling with nerves.

They danced around each other for a few months before El and Max threatened to stop talking to him if he didn't ask Chris out.

"He's so pretty." El would sigh as they watched him walk out of school towards his bike. His scarf fluttered around him as the wind ruffled his perfectly coiffed hair.

Max could only nod as she chewed on her lip, and they would giggle together as Chris blew a kiss at him.

Mike and Lucas would roll their eyes and wait for them to stop obsessing over Will's crush; one of them always breaking their girlfriends' stalking to whine for attention.

Christopher was the one to ask him out. He met Will on his locker one fall day when school ended, and asked him to the movies. "I'll even buy the popcorn, but I can't promise we'll watch most of the movie." Chris had winked.

And he had been right.

" _How was the movie?"_ Jonathan had asked as he picked him up, and Will could only blush and say _"It was alright"_ without looking at his smirking brother.

He didn't even knew what movie it was.

They began openly dating then. Most girls thought they were amazing; Chris was really charismatic and even though he was very outspoken about his sexuality, his flirty nature didn't stop with boys.

The boys weren't that unfazed. Half the male population was uncaring as to what Will Byers was up to these days. "It's his own ass. He'll know how to take care of it."

The other half weren't as supportive or unaffected as the others. Apparently, watching two boys kiss each other was a blow to the male ego or something, because they didn't react kindly to it.

"It's not natural." They would mutter to their friends as Will and Chris sat together holding hands at lunch with the gang.

But none of them did anything or acted on their thoughts, because otherwise they would suffer the wrath of El, Max and the boys.

A few incidents had happened here and there, when a boy had felt brave enough to throw some slurs at the couple. They had been on the other end of Max's wicked tongue, and El's furious eyes. The two girls were more intimidating than the boys from their group, but that didn't mean they stepped back from defending Will and Chris. Not that they needed it that much, because Chris was never the one to back down from a verbal fight. Being raised by a Mexican mom who was proud of her son, he never needed to be quiet in his beliefs; he knew his rights and was never too afraid to show it.

But after being on the shadows for a year, Troy suddenly came back to tormenting Will. James had isolated him once they entered High School, and Troy found himself a loner. But watching Will Byers be a _happy fairy_ in public sight bothered him to no end. It wasn't _right_.

So, one day when he was smoking behind the bleachers, he saw Will alone on the field and he decided to take his chance.

He took him by surprise, coming from the back and pushing him to the ground with sudden force.

"Hey! What the hell man?!" Will yelped as his chest suddenly hit the ground.

He turned around and faced his old tormentor. "What the hell do **you** want, now?"

"You're so happy now, aren't you Byers? Happy being a fairy and fluttering around everyone's faces?" Troy sneered as he threw his cigarette next to Will's head.

Said boy quickly jerked away from his touch and stood up.

"Well, to be honest I am pretty happy. But I wouldn't expect you to understand. From what it seems, you're still the same pathetically miserable boy you've always been."

Troy had him by the throat faster than Will could realize. His hand squeezed Will's throat against the brick wall, and brought his face close to Will as he watched the boy's eyes widen in fear.

"You think you're so clever, aren't you Byers?"

"I do. I do think I'm very clever." In spite of his current situation, Will couldn't help himself from snarling back at the bully. He really needed to stop spending time with El.

"Well, I'm gonna make you swallow your words."

Will's feet hit the ground only to stumble sideways as Troy punched him, knuckles hitting Will's cheekbone. He cried out as pain erupted in his face, and he did it again as another punch was thrown at his ribs.

"I never took my revenge on you, Byers. For that little stunt you made back in 8th grade. I needed 7 stitches. **Seven**!" Troy bellowed as he pumped his arms and planted two punches at Will's middle.

Will could only groan and put his arms around his torso to try and protect himself. He should've taken Lucas' dad's lessons when he tried giving the boys some fighting advice.

He could only weakly push Troy away as his eyes screwed shut in pain. "Help!" He screamed as Troy began to take labored breaths, never ceasing his attack on Will.

Suddenly, the bully was removed from him and Will fell against the wall in relief, opening his eyes to the sight next to him.

El had Troy pinned to the wall with her mind, eyes furious and very concentrated on the boy in front of her. Troy cried out as his nose twitched involuntarily, and then gave a loud whine as El inflicted pain on him. She did as she was trained to do back in her childhood, and mentally crushed the boy.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from my friends?" She sneered as blood trickled down Troy's face.

He suddenly slumped as she released him, but quickly righted himself up as she charged at him.

She threw a hard punch at his face, bruising his eye and nicking his broken nose, making the blood there flow heavier and faster.

"What part of never touch them again did you not understand, Troy?"

Will stared at her in wonder. El was always such a sweet girl; he forgot how _vicious_ she could be. Venom dripped from her voice as she glared daggers at Troy. The punch was all Hopper and he was glad she wasn't just relying on her powers.

He became increasingly worried as he realized they had a bit of a crowd. Kids whispered between them as they came closer, being alerted of the fight happening in the back of the field hidden by the school building by Troy's cries. His eyes scanned the crowd and came empty of the familiar faces of his friends _. Where are they?_ He thought; he was badly bruised and he was scared he wouldn't be able to stop El from getting into serious trouble.

"El." He called breathlessly from his place on the ground.

"Didn't you learn last time, Troy? Do you need me to refresh your memory?" El ignored him and he watched in fear as her eyes clouded with power, only registering the amount of pressure she was putting on Troy's arm when the boy began to cry and buck against her to release his arm.

"El!" He gulped.

Relief washed over him when he spotted a familiar redhead running to them, Mike behind her.

"Are you okay?" Max asked him in one breath as she scanned him over.

"Stop her." His eyes met Mike's and he pleaded the guy to make his girlfriend stop before she was expelled for killing someone.

"If I hear you're bothering him again, I will rip your tongue from your mouth and shove it so far up your ass you'll be tasting lunch. Have I made myself clear?" El threatened quietly.

"El, that's enough." Mike said warningly as he watched the school main doors open and the principal's personal secretary come out to scan the area, and then scurry back in quickly.

"Have I made myself clear?" She repeated louder.

"Yes, yes." Troy whimpered in fear.

"Crystal?!"

" **YES**! Please get her away from me!" Troy cried as Mike took his girlfriend by the waist and pried her off of the bully.

"I want you to run to the bathroom, clean yourself up a little and then go with the nurse. The principal will take you to the office and you'll probably be suspended but if he doesn't find you here you'll get some heat off of you." Mike instructed her as he pushed her towards Max who had listened intensely.

He then lifted Will from the wall and watched as the crowd parted to let the two girls walk past. He watched them get inside through the gym's doors and disappear from view.

He turned back to the pathetic sight of their bully, who was slumping on the ground, and shook his head as he wrapped an arm around Will's waist to help him lean some of his weight against him.

"Who's the fairy now?" Will whispered to Troy as he was led away by Mike.

The main doors to the field opened and they revealed the very serious face of Mr. Langdon, who only shook his head in exasperation and instructed Mike to take Will to the office.

"In a minute, sir. I'm taking him to see the nurse first."

"Yeah, this stings like a bitch." Will gestured to his face.

"Mr. Byers!" The secretary scolded as the principal rolled his eyes and made his way down the steps to shoo the crowd away from the other boy, who he knew was the troublesome one.

When they entered the infirmary, El was happily licking a cherry lollipop while swinging her legs back and forth.

"Hey! How did it go?" Max asked as she removed a yellow lollipop from her mouth.

"Umm, good, I guess? Is there anything good from all of this?" Mike asked as he put Will against the infirmary bed El was sitting on.

"Oh, great! Another one." The nurse frowned as Will jumped to sit next to Eleven, taking a few alcohol-infused cotton balls and coming to stand in front of Will.

"And there's one more coming later." Mike informed her as he took El's lollipop and plopped it inside his mouth.

"Ew!" Max wrinkled her nose at them.

He inspected her bandaged hands and shook his head teasingly in reprimand at her. She stuck out her tongue and smiled as he swung their hands together, careful of her bruises.

Will smiled in spite of his hisses as the nurse dabbed at his face, snapping at him to stay still when he jerked his face away from her hands.

And a few minutes later, when Chris entered the infirmary doors to check him worriedly, he grinned widely, taking his boyfriend's face and kissing him.

"Hey! This is still a school, Mr. Byers!" The nurse reprimanded him slightly. He knew he was one of her favorite patients.

As he assured Chris he was okay, he happily realized he finally had someone who looked at him like he longed for. He finally got the love he always wanted.

* * *

 **AN: I feel like I don't write Will as much as I want. I hope you liked him in this, and kudos to those who catched the AHS references. Review if you want me to post one of the 6 stories I have written for you ;)**


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